What happened
Shares of test equipment specialist Teradyne (TER -1.83%) took a dive on Thursday, falling as much as 28.5%. As of 3:20 p.m. ET, the stock was down 24%.
The stock's slide is primarily due to the tech company's earnings report, which included worse-than-expected guidance for Q1. But a rough day in the overall stock market probably isn't helping, either.
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So what
Teradyne announced on Wednesday afternoon that revenue rose 17% year over year in its fourth quarter to $885 million. Adjusted earnings per share increased 29% year over year to $1.37. Both of these metrics were ahead of analysts' consensus forecasts. On average, analysts had forecast revenue of $868 million and adjusted earnings per share of $1.29.
For its first quarter, Teradyne guided for revenue between $700 million and $770 million. This was well behind a consensus analyst forecast for $877 million for the period. Management's outlook for first-quarter adjusted earnings per share between $0.76 and $0.98 was also far behind the consensus for $1.30.
Explaining the weak guidance, management said that it expects a "slower technology transition in one of our major end markets to result in lower System-on-a Chip test demand for Teradyne before accelerating again during the ramp of 3nm production in 2023."
Capturing the bearish day in the overall markets, the Nasdaq Composite was down 1.3% at the time of this writing. This pessimism may have been weighing on the tech stock some.
Now what
On a positive note, Teradyne said it expects growth in its industrial automation segment to persist in 2022 "on the strength of favorable global economic trends and the powerful value our automation products provide to customers."
